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Fed, Stress Tests, Crimea, U.K. Budget: Week Ahead March 15-22 Bloomberg Federal Reserve policy makers meet for the first time under Chair Janet Yellen, who has pledged to continue gradual reductions in monthly bond buying as long as the U.S. economy improves. The Fed also will publish results of its bank stress tests later in the&nbsp; ...

By Aruna Viswanatha WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The FBI ranked mortgage fraud as its lowest criminal threat after the height of the financial crisis, even though the U.S. Justice Department had said that investigating mortgage fraud was to be a priority, a report by a department watchdog said on Thursday. In addition, although federal investigators received significant additional funding from Congress to pursue mortgage fraud cases, the FBI did not always use the funds only for mortgage fraud, the report by the Department of Justice's inspector general said. The FBI is part of the Justice Department. "The FBI in adding new staff did not always use these new positions to exclusively investigate mortgage fraud," inspector general Michael Horowitz said in the report. The report also said that the FBI placed mortgage fraud in its lowest criminal category. In recent years the government has been accused of not doing enough to go after the kind of conduct that fueled the financial crisis, including mortgage fraud. The FBI received $196 million in funding to investigate mortgage fraud activities between the 2009 and 2011 fiscal years, but in 2011 the number of agents investigating such cases and the number of open investigations decreased, the inspector general said. In response to the report, Justice Department spokeswoman Ellen Canale said the number of mortgage fraud indictments nearly doubled and the number of convictions rose by more than 100 percent between 2009 and 2011, the two years the inspector general examined. "As the report itself notes, even at a time of constrained budget resources, the department has dedicated significant manpower and funding to combating mortgage fraud," Canale said. The inspector general also said he found "significant deficiencies" in the Department of Justice's ability to accurately report its mortgage fraud efforts. The agency mistakenly inflated its results in mortgage fraud prosecutions at an...

Bay Area Home Sales Slowest Since 2008 March 13, 2014 La Jolla, CA.----Bay Area home buyers were kept scrambling last month as a continued lack of inventory contributed heavily to a six-year low in sales. The median price paid for a home increased from January and remained 33 percent higher than a year earlier, a real estate information service reported. A total of 4,963 new and resale houses and condos sold in the nine-county Bay Area last month. That was the lowest for any February since 2008, when 3,989 homes sold. Last month's sales rose 5.7 percent from 4,696 in January, and fell 8.2 percent from 5,404 in February 2013, according to San Diego-based DataQuick. Since 1988, when DataQuick's statistics begin, February sales have ranged from a low of 3,989 in 2008 to a high of 8,901 in 2002. Last month's sales were 19.9 percent below the average number of February sales - 6,194 - since 1988. Sales haven't been above average for any month in more than seven years. "A number of factors can keep a lid on sales. Affordability, for example. Or hard-to-get mortgages. These factors certainly play a role today, but clearly the main culprit is an inadequate supply of homes for sale. It's going to be fascinating to watch how things play out between now and June. At some point rising home prices will trigger a more significant increase in the number of homes on the market. It's just a question of when," said John Walsh, DataQuick president. The median price paid for a home in the Bay Area in February was $540,000. That was up 2.9 percent from $525,000 in January and up 33.3 percent from $405,000 in February last year. On a year-over-year basis, the median has risen the last 23 months, with gains above 20 percent for the last 16 months. The Bay Area median peaked at $665,000 in June and July 2007, then dropped as low as $290,000 in March 2009. While much of the median's ups and downs since its peak can be attributed to shifts in the types of...

When it comes to cracking down on mortgage fraud, the Justice Department isn't as tough as its repeated public statements suggest, and even inflated its success in one highly publicized incident, the department's internal watchdog said Thursday. Read full article &#62;&#62; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;

Fannie Mae Investors&#39; Fate to Be Decided by Courts, Crapo Says Bloomberg The U.S. Senate plan to dismantle Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) will leave it to the courts to decide how investors in the two companies are treated, Senator Mike Crapo said today in a Bloomberg Television interview. "They have filed suit right&nbsp; ... and more&nbsp;&raquo;

Home sales in Redfin's 11 West Coast markets fell 13.4 percent in February from the year before, hitting a five-year low. Read&#160;More The post West Coast Home Sales Hit Lowest Point in Five Years appeared first on Redfin Real Estate Blog .

With the spring selling season just around the corner, homebuyer demand hasn't yet shown any strong signs of picking up. Read&#160;More The post Homebuyers Hesitate in February appeared first on Redfin Real Estate Blog .

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell and hit a fresh three-month low last week, suggesting a strengthening in labor market conditions.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. import prices rose more than expected and recorded their largest gain in a year in February as petroleum soared, but there was little sign of a broad pick-up in imported inflation.

This rule proposes to revise FHA&#39;s regulations that allow an FHA-approved mortgagee to charge the mortgagor interest through the end of the month in which the mortgage is being paid. The proposed change would prohibit mortgagees from charging post-payment interest, allowing them instead to charge interest only through the date the mortgage is paid.

Fannie Mae Liquidation Seen Sparing Preferred Holders: Mortgages Bloomberg Winding down Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac wouldn&#39;t necessarily wipe out all of their shares. Senate banking committee leaders announced this week they plan to introduce a bill to dismantle the two mortgage companies. The government seized&nbsp; ... and more&nbsp;&raquo;

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Senate proposal for winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac slammed their shares over the last two days, but big investors in the government-owned mortgage agencies aren't running away yet.

Yesterday HUD partnered with the White House to host a Green Mortgage Appraisal Roundtable with national leaders from the lending, realtor, homebuilding and appraisal industries. The roundtable discussion was an initiative of President Obama's Climate Action Plan and one more step in a series of actions the Administration is taking to accelerate the adoption and [&#8230;]

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